Youth Plays

Plays for Young Audiences and Plays for Young Performers﻿

Unpublished Youth Plays (Contact me for perusal copies and rights)

Dear Anne from NinaCast: 7 (5f, 2m)Running Time: 80-85 minutesSet: Room in Danville Iowa Farmhouse, Room in Amsterdam apartmentDramatheatre for young audiences, young performers, Anne Frank, Holocaust, World War TwoIn February 1940, a young girl in Iowa pulled the name of a pen pal out of a hat. The name was Anne Frank. They had a brief correspondence before the Nazis invaded The Netherlands. The play is a coming-of-age reflection of that time from 1940-1942. While Nina and Jeannie strive to be “citizens of the world” in Iowa, Anne and Margot try to navigate a world that doesn’t want them. *Approved by the Anne Frank Foundation in Basel, Switzerland. NOTES: The play is episodic and all changes should be done with lights and music. Projections and music may underscore time and place. ExcerptContact Playwright or use Contact Page

My Brother's GiftCast: 5 (3f, 2m with doubling) - 8 (5f, 3m; extras possible)Running Time: 70 minutesSet: Levels with projections of Amsterdam and Heinz's paintings (provided)Drama​History, Eva Schloss, Heinz Geringer, Holocaust, Amsterdam, World War Two, art, young performersAnne Frank left a diary. Heinz Geiringer left over twenty paintings and a book of poetry. He painted on tea towels, pillowcases and any surface that he could find. During the play, we witness his artistic growth through his paintings, poetry and his sister’s remembrances. The paintings vary from a nostalgic love of the life he led to the terror and fears that were part of his day. From the tender age of fifteen to seventeen, Heinz left the world a body of work. Some paintings were simply to improve his skills. Others were of freedom and hope. And others were dark and foreboding. Heinz’s body of work shows us the power of art under unconscionable circumstances and how art can help us cope, heal and even hope in the darkest times.ExcerptContact Playwright or use Contact Page

Fumble and the FairiesCast: 8 (3 female, 2 male, 3 male or female; extras possible)Running Time: 60 minutesSet: Unit set with lighting changesComedyfable, middle school students, fantasy, bees, fairies, danceIt's spring and the bees need to work. But Fumble has been approached by Flutterby-the-butterfly to be her dancing partner with the fairies. Fumble discovers he loves dancing. But he's a worker-bee. Or is he? Adapted from the Bee Who Would Not Work by Charlotte Herr. the play asks "must you always work?" "Is there time for play?" ExcerptContact Playwright or use Contact Page

Bound by StardustCast: 3 (1m, 2f)Running Time: 90 minutesSet: Unit set with 1 insertDramaNorth Pole, arctic, magical realism, universe, cosmos, stars, physics, griefDeveloped with Purple Crayon Players Playground at Northwestern University, April 2016Miranda dwells in the past. Any past – as long as the world is prior to her father’s death 2 years ago. Reeling from her mother’s remarriage, Miranda spends a week with her great aunt and acquaints herself with an ancestor from her father’s past – the Russian explorer Otto Schmidt. In the confines of Elsie’s apartment, Miranda travels back and forth to the North Pole gleaning information about the nature of the universe, loss and ever-lasting presence. As Miranda visits Otto in the past, Elsie is struggling to maintain the equilibrium she is barely holding to since her sister’s death. Trying to keep her crushing anxiety at bay, Elsie tries to give Miranda remembrance and closure. Turning to the stars, Miranda works at building a way of reaching the past and finding her father.ExcerptContact: Playwrightor use Contact Page

Almost MaryCast: 6 (3f, 3m)Running Time: One hour (approximate)DramaHistory, paleontology, science, women in science, 365 Day Women Playwriting ProjectSetting: The cliffs of Lyme Regis, England; and a setting above the cliffs that has a table where Mary and her mother sold fossils. A small setting of a bed and table inside the home is set. It should be very sparse.The set can be imaginatively created. It can be as simple as levels. It can be as fantastical as an imagined etched drawing of the Jurassic period. Mary’s story is real but the population often found her fossils to be fantastical. Scrims, projections would also work.SYNOPSIS: Mary Anning is considered the first female paleontologist. She lived in Lyme Regis which is still a hotbed of fossils. She learned to find fossils at her father’s knee. After her father died, she continued to find fossils and sell them to help her family earn a meager living. This play chronicles her first big discovery at the age of twelve: an ichthyosaur (fish lizard). Mary had little schooling but was a learner. She read incessantly, carefully chronicled and drew all of her findings. Her thirst for knowledge began at an early age (and was attributed to being hit struck by lightening although that is more lore than fact). Mary’s brother Joseph (at age 9!) found a large (4 feet) fossil head. Mary believes that the entire fossil could be found and the play is about her efforts – against all odds – to do so.Winner 2016 Old Miner's Children's Playwriting Contest. Developed at Utah University by Dr. John Newman and the university students.EXCERPTUse Contact Page or contact playwright

SAMPLE OF PUBLISHED YOUTH PLAYS (a sample of my fifty published plays; contact publisher)​Antigone in Munich: The Sophie Scholl StoryCast: 11 (6f, 5m) with doubling: 8 (4f, 4m)Running Time: 75-80 minutesDramaSocial justice, Sophie Scholl, White Rose Society, Nazi Germany, passive resistance, Nazi resistanceTime: 1933-1943Set: Unit set. The set should consist of playing areas or levels. The scenes are episodic and move quickly in time and space. Set pieces should be kept to a minimum. The play would do well with projections. Multimedia slides for each scene are suggestions.Synopsis: Sophie Scholl was a member of the White Rose Society in Nazi Germanywhich encouraged passive resistance against the totalitarian government. The play chronicles her coming of age and development from bystander to witness to activist.ExcerptContact: Your Stage Partners

La Bella CinderellaCast: 6 (3f, 2m, 1m or f)Running time: 55 minutes Bare setComedy, theatre for young audiences, touring production, interactive, fairy-taleWinner - Unpublished Play Reading Project administered by the American Alliance for Theatre EducationWinner - Prince George County Children's Play Writing ContestThe Primo Pasta Players turn the Cinderella tale topsy-turvy with zany, pasta-loving fun. Help the Players get ready for the ball, save Cinderella from a wild boar and stop the villainous clown from stealing the crown! Silly rules the land! Music and dance are welcome additions. Interactive for ages 4-10.

"There aren't many Fringe offerings that are truly all-ages shows, but this is one and it's very fun, even if attending kid-less. It's an adaptation of "La Cenerentola," the Italian folk tale that inspired "Cinderella" (and Rossini's opera), but in Claudia Haas' version, the title character is OCD about cleaning, which is too much for her stepmother but just right for an order-obsessed prince. It's presented with the kind of comedies performed in Renaissance-era public squares, and is delivered with a light touch and plenty of kid-pleasing charm." - Rob Hubbard, St. Paul Pioneer PressExcerptContact: YouthPLAYS

On a magical day at the fair, wishes are blown to the wind and dreams are crafted and celebrated. Rosie wants to go to college although her status as a foster child with no money makes it seem unlikely. Her brother Ozzie dreams of running away with Rosie and leading a life off the grid. Virginia has a dream that she will leave her wheelchair behind and dance again. Daniel wants to be an artist. Raymond desperately needs a home for his beloved Chickie - where she won’t be turned into a chicken-pot-pie! Bobby would just like his sister to pay attention to him. And Jansen yearns for adventure. Their dreams intersect and bump into each other as young people discover what dreams are made of and how it takes more than wishing to make them come true. All roles are for young performers. ExcerptContact playwright or use Contact PageUnder a Midsummer MoonCast: 14 (5m, 6f, 3 m or f)Running time: 60 minutesUnit set - urban parkHonored with a Playwrights in our Schools Grant2nd Place (earlier edit) Jackie White Memorial Children's Play Writing ContestHigh school theatre, community theatre; theatre for young performers, large-cast play, 1969 moon landing, historical

It's the summer of 1969. Viet Nam is raging. Woodstock will end the summer. Cities are crumbling and people are shouting. On July 20, 1969 a man will walk on the moon. David knows the war in Viet Nam is just. How else could he justify the recent loss of his brother "over there?" Russell knows the war is an abomination and cannot wait until he is 18 and can burn his drafft card - just as his brother did. And Madrigal knows the times are fragile and call for magic. And if the faeries won't supply enchantment - she will.ExcerptContact: Dramatic Publishing

The Fisherman and his WifeCast: 3 (1 m, 1f, 1m or f)Running Time: 50 minutesMinimum set (for touring)Winner Prince George County Children's Theatre Play ContestWinner Anna Zornio Memorial Play Writing ContestTheatre for young audiences, interactive, fairy-tale, touring production, comedyA timeless tale of wanting things. When a simple fisherman catches Scatfish - a jazzy, enchanted fish, it is discovered Scat can grant wishes. The fisherman's wife proceeds to ask for more things. When will they have enough? With little set needed, this play is ideal for touring and can be done anywhere - in a classroom, in a gym, in a park.ExcerptContact: PlayscriptsBy CandlelightCast: 10 (7f, 3m)Running time: 60 MinutesMulti-level setTeen Performers, drama, 9/11. historical, docudrama, high school, community theatreWinner-finalist Bonderman Symposium Winner Aurand Harris Play Writing ContestCommunity theatre; high school theatre; theatre for young performers, 9/11, historical, docudramaA tale of young people trying to connect and heal after 9/11. Their solution to terror? Chocolate truffles and painting murals. Their solutions may seem simple and naive but their hope makes all things possible. Framing the story is a true tale of a friendship that brings home the beauty of tolerance.ExcerptContact: PlayscriptsPride and Prejudice - adapted from Jane Austen's novel Cast of 20-27 (17f, 10m, many extras possible)Running time: 90 minutesSet: Utilizes a center stage area and 2 small sitting areas on either side of the stage - the only sets you need to change would be small set pieces.High school theatre, literature, adaptation, comedy, Regency England, large-cast play, community theatre, teen performers The dialogue is vintage Austen and the story of pride, prejudice and love remains as fresh as ever. Especially adapted for high school theatres.ExcerptContact: Eldridge Plays and MusicalsCast Away to Shakespeare's GardenCast: 12 (9f, 2m, 1m or f)Running time: 60 minutesUnit set with 1 insetComedy, historical, large cast, teen performers, Shakespeare, high school theatre, time travelSecond Place, Jackie White Memorial Children's Play Writing Contest Semi-finalist Bonderman Symposium An errant computer and a mysterious comet conspire to send three teenagers back to Shakespeare's time. The teens soon find themselves acting in an "olde" version of Pyramus and Thisbe with Shakespeare's children! Meanwhile back at home, two computer geeks are hard at work trying to bring their friends back to their own time.ExcerptContact: Brooklyn PublishersCap o' RushesCast: 17 (4m, 8f, 5 m or f, extras possible)Running time: 65 minutesSimple interior and exterior setWinner, 2013 East Valley Chidren's Theatre Aspiring Playwright AwardIt's the King Lear of fairy tales - also known as one of the "salt" tales. The play chronicles the journey of young maiden (Sabine) who is suddenly cast out of her father's home for telling him she loves him "as much as meat loves salt." Forced to earn a living with few skills, Sabine re-invents herself as "Cap o' Rushes" and carves out a new life for herself. It's a riches-to rags-to riches mixture of silliness, love, and family ties.ExcerptContact: Pioneer DramaThe Magic Fishbone - adapted from the story by Charles DickensCast: 26 (11f, 1m, 14 m or f)Running time: 60 minutesSimple interior and exterior setYoung Performers, serio-comic, large-cast play, Victorian EnglandA story of wishing and is it really necessary? Do you make your own luck? A large-cast play for young performers set in Victorian England.ExcerptContact: Big Dog PlaysThe Hanging of the GreensCast: 20 (3m, 8f, 11 m or f)Running time: 60 minutesSimple exterior and interior setHoliday show, family audiences, adult and young performers, seriocomic, folktale, large-cast, high school, community theatre There is a legend that garlands and wreaths must be hung above every doorway and window in winter to prevent the witch from entering your home to kidnap children. But what happens when children shirk their responsibilities to play and dream? They are ripe to be kidnapped by the witch - Pinella! ExcerptContact: YouthPLAYS